The flow of tourists to South Africa from India is on the rise. From a modest 57,000 tourists in 2009 it has grown to over 90,000 in 2011. In tune with the growth, South African Tourism conducted its third module of classroom training session for travel agents and other stakeholders here on Monday. The session titled as ‘Learn South Africa’ is designed to train travel professionals to promote, plan and organise attractive packages to South Africa, said the Country Head of South African Tourism Hanneli Stabber.
“It is aimed to give an in-depth understanding of the offerings of South Africa, thereby enabling them to cater to the wide-ranging requirements of Indian travellers,” she said.
Ms. Stabber said that the sessions would be held in about 30 cities in India, and the forum will also be used to generate feedback, so that it allows a mutual win-win situation for both South African Tourism and its trade partners here in India.
She also pointed out that the strengthening of USD is a global phenomenon and would not have a huge impact on the tourism sector. “The tourist spending can be broadly classified into air travel and expenses on arrival.
The strengthening of USD may have an effect on the air fare, but as far tour expenses are concerned, there shall be no difference, rather it works out to be cheaper,” she said.
She said that South Africa is just not about Johannesburg and Sun City, there is much more in store. “It is becoming one of the best destinations for adventure tourism,” she said.
English is one of the official languages and there are over 300 Indian restaurants in South Africa. “So, both language and food is no barrier,” she said.
